Pankaja Munde’s Facebook post on late fathers birth anniversary raises eyebrows, party says she is not quitting

Mumbai:

An emotional post on Facebook from senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Pankaja Gopinath Munde addressed to her party cadres and supporters asking them to be present at late Gopinath Munde’s Samadhi on December 12 to observe his 70^th birth anniversary at Gopinath Gadh. Her remarks that she wanted to discuss with them the future course of action, which path to take, what I can give back to people, what is my strength and what people expect from me.

The last line in her Facebook post “Mawale yetil he nakki” (the Mawale shall definitely come). During the reign of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj his foot soldiers were called as “Mawale”. Today, in colloquial terms, the Shiv Sena refers to its cadres as Mawale. Senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut has been claiming that many BJP legislators were in touch with the Sena leadership and wanted to switch sides. By stating that the Mawale will definitely come, did she indicate that the Sena leaders were also coming for the event on December 12?

What further raised the hackles of some is about Pankaja Munde removing mention of BJP from her Twitter handle profile. However, closer examination on Twitter revealed that there are two twitter handles – @Pankaja Gopinath Munde and the other @PankajaMunde. The latter has BJP in the twitter profile, the other one does not. Efforts to contact Pankaja Munde proved futile as she was not reachable. In her Facebook post she further stated that she wanted to discuss with them the changed circumstances and what to do next.

In the Facebook post on December 1, she said that she wanted some time to think about the questions that have popped up in her mind, the desire of the supporters to meet her, talk to her and just have a glimpse of her. She said that during the elections she had been busy and after her defeat in the polls she stepped forward and accepted the responsibility for it. Pankaja stated after her election defeat more than herself, the cadres felt demoralized and wanted to meet her.

In a bid to do some damage control, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil denied that Pankaja Munde would quit the party. He contended that the purport of the Facebook post was an invitation to all those who believed and followed her late father to come for the event on December 12. Patil stated that even all state BJP leaders have been to Gopinath Gadh. Meanwhile, her uncle Prakash Mahajan argued that it was an attempt by Pankaja Munde to rally all her demoralized supporters and give them confidence.

However, sources in the BJP disclosed while the party leadership was not unduly worried about possibility of some party leaders switching sides and joining the Sena and other political parties, the leadership was not happy over her defeat. They point out that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah held election rallies for her in Parli, showing how much importance they attached to her status in the party.